Oberpfaffenhofen – Huge amounts of data from space are produced daily by the Earth observation (EO) programme Copernicus and its Sentinel satellites. This big data from space, including information on our planet’s atmosphere, land, and water, offers countless opportunities in connection with mobile apps.
The ESA Space App Camp aims to make EO data and services accessible to a wide range of citizens. Participants get introduced to Copernicus and learn about the many ways in which big data from space can enrich mobile apps using a dedicated API for EO data. Additionally, they will make contacts with like- minded participants from all over Europe and they will gain insights into how ESA operates.
ESA invites developers from across Europe to exchange new ideas with fellow developers and tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges from 16-23 September 2019. The invitation includes food & beverage, hotel and flight expenses. Interested students, researchers, developers and economists are able to register online as individuals or teams (of up to four people) at www.app-camp.eu/apply until 15 July 2019. The selection criteria will include the applicants’ previous programming work. The winner or winning teams will receive a EUR 2,500 cash prize and the opportunity to apply for further incubation at one of the ESA Business Incubation Centres (BICs).
“Our personal experience at the App Camp was astonishing. This was one of the most innovative events we have attended so far: ESA provides perfect working conditions to help the teams bring their ideas to life in prototypes and fosters innovation using cutting-edge technologies. Winning the ESA Space App Camp helped us validate our idea and encouraged us to go further – to open our own space tech start-up using Earth observation data technologies,” explains Olga Bodet, CEO and co-founder, Zero Gravity Oy.
The Finnish team from Zero Gravity Oy was the winner of the Space App Camp 2018 with its app called Urbansat. The app aims to guide greener, more ecological urban planning. It provides a range of data for planners, including information on green spaces, terrain, biodiversity and more, all in one place and at an affordable price. The app has found considerable interest not only in Finland and is on its way to be marketed commercially.
Since the Space App Camp’s inception eight years ago, around 440 developers from 30 countries have applied for participation and more than 50 apps have been developed. Some of these have already found their way into commercially viable applications. Working in teams, the developers are tasked with creating innovative apps and feasible business models for one of five subject areas: smart farming, sustainable development, future living, smart cities and digital transport.
About AZO
AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen is an international networking and branding company initiating the most important space-related innovation competitions with more than 15,000 participants, over 200 industrial & public – and 400 international stakeholders. The Masters Series, presented by AZO consists of the Galileo Masters, Copernicus Masters, Space Exploration Masters, and INNOspace Masters. Additionally, AZO organises the Space App Camp by ESA and the Copernicus Hackathons by the European Commission. AZO runs a very successful business angel network which invested more than EUR 50 million Venture Capital in 2018. Additionally, AZO manages it’s ESA Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) Bavaria. This incubation programme has supported more than 155 company foundations solely in Bavaria to date. For more information, please visit https://www.anwendungszentrum.de.
